In difficult and divisive times, having NFL team can unite a city

In difficult and divisive times, having NFL team can unite a city
January 3
San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Nick Canepa
"If it wasn't apparent before these became times that try our souls and 401(k)s, it should be now. The Chargers matter. The Chargers are important. Nothing else in San Diego this side of downtown blundering so affects our collective psyche as does this football team when it has its dancing shoes on.

The Chargers give us something to rally around when there is very little to rally around. Forgetting troubles is hard, but if they can be taken away by a three-hour game, however briefly, that doesn't make it a bad thing.

Face it, 2008 was a lousy year, and local sports followed right along with the economy. The only thing missing from our games was the loss of jobs, and a whole lot of fans around here wish the tobogganing jobless rate affected teams more than it did.

The Padres lost 99 games, and owner John Moores put out the For Sale sign and now appears to have a buyer. San Diego State's football was so bad a school without any money dug up more than a million dollars so it could fire coach Chuck Long. The Chargers, preseason Super Bowl favorites in many eyes, got off to a horrific start, with blame being placed on everyone but Dick Cheney, probably because he couldn't be reached for comment.

Then the inconceivable happened. The Chargers were 4-8 entering December. When they improved to 5-8, they still needed to win out and have Denver lose its final three to win the AFC West and advance to the playoffs.

And that's just what happened, culminating last Sunday with the Chargers'rout of the Broncos, in what turned out to be a magic night in a city where there was little of the stuff to be had. Just being out among the tailgaters before the game and then seeing and hearing the huge crowd going bananas confirmed what I already knew: The Chargers matter.

And they matter to folks who've never attended a game, to many of those who've never read a sports page. Fans can't cheer the Zoo. They can't take out their frustrations on Shamu.

I was reminded last Sunday of Preston Sturges' wonderful film, "Sullivan's Travels," in which a celebrated Hollywood director famed for his comedies wanted to go against his studio's wishes and do drama. So, dressed like a hobo, he set out to find poverty.

After a blow to the head left him with amnesia, he was sent to a chain gang for a crime he didn't commit. While in stir, a group of prisoners was allowed to attend a poverty-stricken church to watch movies. There was a Mickey Mouse cartoon. The poor were laughing, uncontrollably. He discovered fun could be more than a panacea during hard times.

As San Diego prepares to play Indianapolis here tonight in an AFC wild-card playoff game, that's what we have injected in us now. The Chargers are an antibiotic. Not a cure-all by any means, but something to stir what passion we have left in our pot.

That's the thing about the Chargers. People care. Some might care too much, but that's their right. If you were on m
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